1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a universal remote control device that combines IR communication capabilities and wireless communication capabilities to control multiple electronic devices that may be located at remote locations.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of many different types of electronic devices and reduction in their cost, consumers typically have a number of different types of electronic devices at home. For example, consumers may use a high-definition TV (HDTV), a digital video disk (DVD) player, a cable set top box, a telephone, and a personal computer. Most of these electronic devices operate together with their own remote control devices that allow the user to control the operation of the electronic devices remotely. Since each electronic device has its own remote control device, there will likely be as many remote control devices as the number of electronic devices that the user has. As a result, it becomes very cumbersome for the user to switch between a number of different remote control devices to control different electronic devices.
Conventional universal remote control devices are available for use with different types of electronic devices. These conventional universal remote control devices are programmed to generate IR (infrared) remote control signals that are identical to the remote control signals generated by the separate remote control devices of multiple electronic devices. That way, a single universal remote control device can be conveniently used to control multiple electronic devices that accept IR-based remote control signals. Electronic devices that operate with IR-based remote control signals may include home multimedia devices or consumer electronic devices such as televisions, DVD players, set-top boxes, etc.
However, conventional universal remote control devices are only operable to generate IR-based remote control signals to control home multimedia devices or consumer electronic devices such as TVs, DVD players, set-top boxes etc., and are not capable of controlling other electronic devices such as personal computers (PCs), telephones, etc. This is because devices such as PCs, telephones, and the like typically do not operate with IR-based remote control signals and could be placed at a location remote and out of range from where the IR-based universal remote device is used.
For example, a user may want to use his PC to search for a product on the Internet while watching a TV program introducing the product. The user may be using a conventional universal remote control device to control the TV and other multimedia equipment, but it is still not possible for the user to control the PC with the conventional universal remote control device. Thus, the user would have to physically move to where the PC in order to use the PC and search for the product on the Internet, because the conventional universal remote control device cannot be used to control computers that may be remotely located. For another example, a user may want to make a telephone call while he is watching TV. The user has no choice but to physically move to where the telephone is, because the conventional remote control device does not have telephone functionalities.
Therefore, there is a need for a universal remote control device that can control different types of multiple electronic devices that may be placed in different locations.